Everyone loves to crochet for baby, and Vanna White is no exception. She shows us 12 new designs with baby in mind: Cute striped sweaters for boys and girls, stuffed elephant and bear toys, giant stuffed letter and number blocks, and blankets are all easy to crochet and great for gift giving. Vanna also introduces us to Vanna's Choice Baby, a worsted weight, machine washable premium acrylic yarn that comes in up-to-date baby colors. Projects are A-B-C Baby Block, 1-2-3 Baby Block, Amigurumi Elephant, Amigurumi Bear with Sweater, Granny Square Blankie, Froggie Hooded Baby Blanket, 'Mint Chip' Booties, Shell Stitch Blanket, Mitered Magic Baby Blanket, Girls' Striped Cardigan, Boys' Striped Cardigan, and Circle to Square Baby Afghan.
good, but disappointing
25/08/2008
R. K. Davies
First, the good. This booklet is mainly intended to showcase Vanna's Choice baby yarn from Lion Brand Yarn, and does a very good job at that. The color choices in the samples are modern and not cutesy-sweet. The pictures are very nice and it includes blocking schematics for the cardigan sweater shown on the cover.
I have made that sweater, and I think it was a good pattern. The body is crocheted in one piece from the hem up, splitting for the back and left front and right front. The sleeves are just rectangles that attach off the shoulder. Keeping up with 5 colors that change every row was challenging, as was hiding all the loose ends, but I was happy with the end result. Also, it has a very cute 8" teddy bear pattern that I intend to try.
Patterns included are: 7" Baby Blocks, Elephant stuffed animal, Teddy Bear stuffed animal (cute), Granny Square Blanket, Froggie Hooded Blanket (back cover, cute), Shell Stitch Blanket, Mitered Corners Blanket (back cover, could be concentric squares), Circle to Square Blanket, Striped Cardigan (cover), and Baby Booties (back cover).
I have loved the other Vanna White crochet pattern book I own, but I was a bit disappointed by this one. Although it advertises 12 designs, there are actually only 10. Two of the designs are counted twice: 7-inch blocks that with "a b c" charts and again with "1 2 3" charts, and a baby cardigan in girl colors and again in boy colors.
Also the afghans are more "new" for their use of color, not their design. One of the "designs" is a traditional granny square afghan - nothing new there.
Overall, it's a pretty book to add to my collection and I think I would buy it again, but I would try to get it at a lower price.